Were any 1939-45 German weapons used post-war in Bundeswehr

[quodec]

Did any tanks, guns, vehicles etc survive the war and make it into the post-war German defence forces/Bundeswehr, or were they all destroyed by the allies? For example I'm thinking of the Pumas, which surrendered between Prague and Pilsen on 9th May 1945 or the tanks of the 512th Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion at Iserlohn, Germany, or indeed any ME262 which might have survived?

[Christian Ankerstjerne]

No major Wehrmacht equipment pieces such as tanks or aircrafts were used by the Bundeswehr. This wouldn't have made sense, either, as any such equipment would have been both outdated and impossible to find replacement parts for by 1955 when the Bundeswehr was created.

[Sheldrake]

The Bundeswehr adopted the MG 3 which is a 7.62mm version of the MG42. Its a good GPMG.

[spannermann]

For many years after the war Germany was forbidden to manufacture military items, not only that much of their industry was damaged, destroyed or dismantled by the Allies and often removed as reparations, and in addition you had three Germany's, East and West and large areas now in Poland, who were certainly not going to cooperate.

Apart from some small items like small arms, it was impossible to recreate WW2 items, which by the mid 1950's would have been obsolete anyway.

cheers paul

[grassi]

Hi,

U 2365 (U Hai) was used by the Bundesmarine until it sank in 1966.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_2365

And some S-Boats (Schnellboote).
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schnellboot#Bundesmarine

In der Aufbauphase übernahm die deutsche Bundesmarine noch zwei Schnellboote aus dem Zweiten Weltkrieg und sechs modifizierte Nachbauten der späteren Silbermöwe-Klasse (Klasse 149) vom unter alliierter Aufsicht aufgebauten Bundesgrenzschutz und dem BBFPS.

Nobody expects the Bundesmarine...

Best regards


grassi

[Christian Ankerstjerne]

Nobody expects the Bundesmarine...

Both military and civilitan ships generally have very good longevity, so this doesn't surprise me, but still very interesting. Thanks for the info

[Waleed Y. Majeed]

The new German Air Force officially came into being on 24 September 1956 when the first ten jet pilots received their pilot badges, the coveted “wings”. The first trainer aircraft with the Bundeswehr emblem – a Piper L-18, a Harvard Mk.4 (T-6) and a Lockheed T-33 jet trainer – were also symbolically handed over during the ceremony held at the Fürstenfeldbruck air base.

source:
https://www.bundeswehr.de/en/about-bund ... -air-force

Waleed

[Hans1906]

Interesting topic once again,

as young recruits in the 1970s, we were trained on the P1 pistol .

Walther P1 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_P1

Excellent handgun, successor to the P38.

Walther P38 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_P38

So much for the topic Wehrmacht weapons in the Bundeswehr, more later...

Link: https://www.all4shooters.com/de/shootin ... r-sammeln/


Hans

[Hans1906]

I remember our comrade at the time, Baumeister, who almost shot his instructor on the range with the P1...

Baumeister had a jam, 8 rounds in the magazine, he turned with the loaded and unlocked pistol in the direction of his instructor, with the words:

"She does not shoot!!!" :roll:

All the instructors behind were under their desks within a second, and the completely overwhelmed recruit Baumeister was waving the loaded P1 around...

Bundeswehr!


Hans

P.S. There are people who are completely overwhelmed by a loaded gun in their own hand, I can understand that very well.

[Denniss]

MG 1 and MG 2 were the rechambered MG42 in use by Bundeswehr, MG 3 was a further development.
I'd guess several widespread 9mm MP models were also used

[spannermann]

I think the original question from "quodoc" was concerning tanks, guns (read as being the large artillery, flak and pak varieties) and vehicles, small arms have a long life as is well known, so its not surprising that WW2 small arms, plus modifications, are still around, ships hulls are similar, but vehicles, tanks and artillery are less likely as they obsolete quicker.

In addition most German WW2 tanks artillery and vehicles were assembled using parts manufactured all over the Third Reich and occupied countries, and apart from Germany being banned from production of military items for many years after WW2, Germany itself was split into East, West and the new Polish areas.

cheers paul

[grassi]

Hi,

this is not Bundeswehr, but at least one Sdkfz was used in the demolition of the Heeresmunitionsanstalt St. Georgen, which is now the city of Traunreut.
The ammunition (poison gas) was deactivated in the years of 1946-1948 by the Staatliche Erfassungsgesellschaft (STEG).
Source: Traunreut 1938-1960. Die Kampfstoffarbeiter - die Pioniere - die Munesier - die junge Gemeinde, herausgegeben von der Stadt Traunreut, erstellt durch Franz Ebert, St. Georgen [1984].

Best regards


grassi

[PanzerModeler]

Sadly I can't add anything about the Bundeswehr itself that hasn't been said already.

Stahlhelm and some camo items (helmet covers, zeltbahn) were used by the Bundesgrenzschutz early on.

East Germany issued Kar98K rifles post war along with other items and even ordered new production Kar98Ks post WW2 for some purpose.

They also made 8mm Mauser ammo. If you find any DO NOT shoot it, it's in dangerously bad condition now.